“We quote from the Literary Digest (New York, Nov. 10, 1906) the following excerpts from the work of Prof. Kirschmann and comments, as they furnish interesting thought on the line of the foregoing chapter.”
“LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS: “The probability, or even the possibility of life in other worlds than our own is denied by the veteran English scientist, Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, in his book on “Man’s Place In The Universe.” This opinion is vigorously combated in a pamphlet reprinted from the Transactions of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (Toronto, 1906), by Dr. A. Kirschmann, professor of philosophy in the University of Toronto. Space forbids allusion to all of Dr. Kirschmann’s arguments, but he makes, in particular, an ingenious use of the hypothesis of the relativity of things, which is worthy of notice. To the relativity of magnitudes, for instance, he will admit absolutely no limit, and he therefore maintains the possibility of living beings so huge, that every molecule of their bodies is as great as our solar system, or so small, that countless hosts of them may dwell together on one of our molecules. ‘Perhaps,’ he says, ‘the whole galactic system is nothing but one cell of an immense organism.’ To one who holds this view of matter and life, argument designed to show that there are no human beings on Venus or Mars, are evidently inadequate.
Says Professor Kirschmann: “We must not forget that the greatness of the universe known to us is only relative. The law of relativity of all magnitudes is not a speculation, but a fact which is given with every experience, and which can be verified at any moment. But we have become accustomed to close our eyes to it. There is absolutely nothing great or small in the world; and the mathematical conception, so much indulged in of the approximation to zero, is one of the worst fictions which human intelligence ever invented. There can be no part of substance or of empty space though ever so small, which, regarded from another standpoint, is not a large part of matter or of space. Consequently, a single molecule of chalk with its atoms of calcium and oxygen and carbon – these again consisting of millions of ions, and these again of sub-ions, and so on ad infinitum – may be a whole solar system again with a central body, and planets and satellites containing life in many forms, but for our measure, too small to be ever perceived. And on the other hand, the whole universe, as far as we can fathom it, may be only a small aggregation of particles or cells of a greater and higher organism absolutely unfathomable by us.”
“Somewhat similar to this infinity of magnitudes is the infinity of physical conditions which the writer invokes as another argument in favor of the possibility of life in other worlds. The laws of nature, it is true, may be constant throughout all space and all time – though Professor Kirschmann reminds us that even this is not susceptible of proof – but the variation of conditions may still be infinite. We have no reason to believe that life may not be possible under all these variations, for all conditions are relative just as magnitude is. For every change in temperature, in the intensity of gravity, and in the chemical composition of atmospheres, and for every possible combination of these three, there may be a specially adapted organism somewhere.””
Hiram Butler
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 